Laura Bush Asks: Should a First Lady (or a First Gentleman) Have to Give Up His Job?

C-SPAN is doing a series on First Ladies,and they asked Laura Bush, wife of W, whether first ladies should draw a salary. Laura said no, because "There are plenty of perks, believe me," referencing the personal chef. Then she turned the question on its head. "The interesting question, really, is should they be able to receive a salary at a job that they might have already had?" Laura says yes: They should be able to keep working at their old job—in addition to their duties as First Lady or First Gentleman—should they want to.

This is a wonderful instinct. In an ideal world, a first spouse should be able to keep their old jobs while in the White House. In practice, though, I'm not sure it's realistic considering both the state of the American tabloid media and our country's expectations of their first ladies. Think about what would have happened had Michelle Obama kept her job as the Executive Vice President for Community and External affairs at the University of Chicago Medical School. Whenever she was trying to do community work, she would have been trailed by cameras and crowds. Obama-haters would have had a field day with the fact that the First Lady was off in Chicago doing her own thing, considering how much flack she gets every time she goes on vacation.

She would have had her work constantly interrupted—not just by the tabs, but also by the demands of the office of First Lady. First Ladies keeping their day jobs is much more possible in other countries, like France and England, because there isn't the same kind of tradition or ceremonial role attached to the President's spouse as there is in the United States.

Furthermore, though Michelle Obama isn't paid a salary for her work, I'm not moved by the argument that she's giving up so much to be First Lady. It's not like she's the average stay-at-home mom. Statistics show that for the average educated woman, leaving the workforce for an extended period of time can really hurt your career: You lose more than 37 percent of your earning power if you take more than three years off. But taking time off to be First Lady only increases your earning power and opens up opportunities. The literary agent Andrew Wylie estimates that Michelle Obama could get a $12 million advance for her memoirs, which she has already started writing. It's hard to imagine she'd have that kind of opportunity had she stayed in her old job.

Still, I'm curious to see what happens if Bill Clinton becomes America's first First Gentleman. Obviously he would be coming to the role of first spouse with a pedigree that no one else can match. He might be able to stay involved with the Clinton Foundation, but the job as head of your charitable foundation is a job that he made for himself, and one that he wouldn't have been able to create had he not already been president. Maybe he'll transform the role of first spouse so radically that the next First Lady (or Gentleman) will have more personal choices when it comes to their job. Somehow, I doubt it. Like in so many other things, Bill Clinton is sui generis.

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